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September, 2010 |
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Surveys & Special Issues |
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Best Brands |
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2009
December |
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The best in Oman across 15 categories |
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Best Brands |
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2008
December |
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A more comprehensive outlook on offer this year with six new categories added |
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Also From the Apex Stable |
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Winning over |
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Letha Jose, Feb 2010 |
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Hassan Ali Jawad, managing director, United Securities, which won the brokerage firm award by Muscat Securities Market (MSM) this year, says by nature he is calm and a good listener.
“We’re in a high-stress business. People become agitated, they just want to talk to someone to discharge stress.”
He says he completely agrees with Epictetus, the Greek philosopher, who said God gave you two ears and one mouth to listen more and talk less.
Jawad, who hails from an illustrious trading family, says his childhood ambition was to become a heart surgeon. He even had a small lab at home.
But obviously the elders in the family had a different idea. From the time he was nine, his grandfather used to take him daily to the family’s shop.
By the time he finished school, business had picked up considerably and his father suggested he join the family business after college. He left for the UK for higher studies in 1978. He returned in 1985 to join family business and in 1991 joined as a general manager in the Mehdi Stores and in 1993 he went on to become the group general manager.
The idea to set up United Securities germinated in 1989. “My business partner Mustafa Ahmed Salman was then working in Oman Portfolio, the first portfolio management company in Oman. We started discussing the idea of setting up a pure brokerage company, as we could see that it was a future market.”
Initially they wanted to have a third partner for the purpose of funding. However, after two failed attempts in finding another partner the two friends decided to go ahead and floated the company by themselves in 1994.
Jawad says setting up United Securities was the biggest challenge in his life. At that time he was also the group managing director of Mehdi Group.
He used to shuffle between both the businesses while Salman managed the operations on a full-time basis. Funding was a big challenge. “My father felt I was getting into something that was not Sharia compliant. So he told me that he could not fund that. Because of my position in Mehdi Group, I was able to raise the money through a bank. The bank gave me a temporary guarantee.”
Since then there has been no looking back. The company, which started with five employees in 1994, now has a staff strength of 55. He proudly points out than many of the original staff continues to be with United Securities.
In 1998 Jawad joined the business full-time. Funds aside, for the boy who dreamt of being a heart surgeon but ended up in the textile business, getting into the stock market was a completely new game, a new challenge. “When you enter the stock market business you are not only entering a new territory, you are changing your mindset. It was a challenge.”
Despite their reservations on the nature of a stock market business, his parents and family morally supported his new venture. “I really appreciate my parents, who ingrained in me the value of ethics. To succeed one needs to lead an ethical path, that is the motto that I always follow.”
Jawad seeks two qualities in anyone he works with – integrity and sincerity. If those exist, the rest falls in place. He continues to be in the family business but Jawad says there is a lot of pride in creating something of your own as opposed to inheriting a business.
“In Arabic there is a saying: ‘One should not be proud of saying my father was; but to say this is who I am’.” This is a motto he aspires his children to follow. Both his sons are majoring in related fields of business – the elder one has just completed his Masters degree in Actuary Science in the UK, while the second son is doing Entrepreneur-ship in the US. Doesn’t he feel he should pass on the baton to his kids?
“I have raised my children to be decision makers, while I may help in their guidance. My personal judgment is that they should gain experience and professionalism from others outside the family business. I do believe that in the family business they’ll be protected. You must learn the ropes as you work your way up. If you don’t do that in the future you may never appreciate the people who work under you.”
Jawad says he handles criticism well – he feels it is the textbook that you learn from. “I believe everyone is entitled to their opinion. I take criticism as feedback most of the time, as it is this honest feedback that helps you become a better person, a better leader. A lot of the time there is no right or wrong but differences in perspectives. One must learn to just agree to disagree, provided they are respected for their opinions.”
Both Jawad and Salman believe in keeping an open door policy.
“While we may have a hierarchy here there are no barriers. Our staff has the privilege to convey their needs directly to us.” One of the benefits of this system is the free flow of information. He says people at lower management levels usually have much more information about what is happening due to their direct involvement than those in the upper management.
Jawad says a leadership role requires the confidence to delegate. “I believe that good leaders provide opportunities for their staff to take control and become decision makers. Our roles are to inspire our staff to be creative, interactive and sincere.” He is of the philosophy that winning is not everything but wanting to win is. He has his reasoning.
“If winning is your only goal, your ambition ends once you win. But if you want to get better you need to look at the next stage. No matter how good you are there will always be more to learn. You need to continuously challenge yourself as complacency can kill a person’s drive.”
That learning never ceases seems to be a philosophy that he is practising in earnest. While most would stay put after an MBA from the UK, Jawad didn’t stop there.
He is currently pursuing Chartered Management Consultancy from the Institute of Business Consulting in the UK from where he had got a diploma in Management Consultancy a year ago. He is also an FSII from Securities Institute UK.
While fishing, reading and going for long walks are among his hobbies, photography is the favourite pastime. An avid photographer, he graduated in Advanced Scenic and Nature Photography course from the New York Institute of Photography in 2008. He says the best thing about photography is that it makes you see things others don’t.
Probably that vision is something that helps in business as well.
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